During the 34th Session of the International Co-ordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB-ICC) at UNESCO HQ in Paris this week, GRÓ LRT and the MAB secretariat co-hosted a side event titled Linking Knowledge to Action in Ecosystem Restoration: Cooperation between GRÓ LRT and UNSECO-MAB. The event started with opening remarks by Ms. Noëline Raondry Rakotoarisoa, Director a.i. of the SC/EES Division and Secretary of the MAB Programme, followed by a lecture by Dr Sjöfn Vilhelmsdóttir, Director of GRÓ LRT where she talked about Iceland’s experience of carrying out ecosystem restoration work for more than 100 years and the focus in the GRÓ LRT Programme on linking knowledge to action in land restoration and sustainable land management.

GRÓ LRT is delighted to announce the successful implementation of a 5-day training course organized in partnership with the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative and Arba Minch University on Integrated approaches for land restoration through sustainable land management in Arba Minch, Ethiopia.

Dr Gerald Eilu, Associate Professor in the Department of Forestry, Biodiversity and Tourism at Makerere University in Uganda, was the second international guest lecturer at the GRÓ LRT six-month training programme this week. Prof. Eilu gave a full-day lecture on biodiversity and its importance for human societies, addressing the issue in the context of ecosystem services, international frameworks and strategies for biodiversity conservation.

This week Dr Richard Thomas, the Scientific Coordinator of the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative, gave two-day course on the economics of land dynamics in GRÓ LRT six-month training programme. This was the fifth time that Dr Thomas contributed to the GRÓ LRT Programme as a guest lecturer.